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England
Tolven Holed StoneHoled Stone
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A huge, flat triangular single stone about 8' tall at the apex with a bloody great round hole carved in it, stands in the back garden of cottage. But not in the middle of the garden, oh no, it's just 6' away from the back door! How it wasn't moved or trashed when the white-washed cottage was built in the mid 19th century is a mystery. Weird and wonderful and I want one, too! |
Posted by Jane24th March 2004ce |
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Popped in here on the way to the Lizard Peninsula for wells, fogous and the such. Was a bit wary of knocking, despite plenty of people saying the owners of the cottage are happy to let you see it! I'm terrible for access if I even get an inkling it's private, but this is a bit blatant! You can see it from the little back road but it's not the same... ;o) We heard someone in the garden so knocked at the gate (couldn't see how to get in any other way anyhoo!) There was a lovely lady there on her tea break (she was decorating for the owners, who were not there) and she let us in. Must be my winning smile... The stone is probably the weirdest that I've seen! It's leaning quite a bit, and triangular... You can see that from the pictures, though... But it's a lot bigger than I expected. It was stone cold on a lovely summery day, and damp. It seems to be almost perpetually in the shade of the cottage. Who'd build a cottage so close to this lovely stone? It's a shame, but nice that the owners/decorators are so welcoming to visitors. Very nice stone. Wonder what it meant? |
Posted by goffik15th October 2003ce |
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The Tolvan - 1st October 2003 Just as cool as expected, although I always manage to build up pictures of places in my head and they are never quite the same. I don't know why but I didn't quite expect the road the cottage is on to be a country lane, or to be next to the rolling countryside. The area is also surprisingly close to the water (The Helford River is barely 1km away). Just in case you didn't know the Tolvan is situated in the back garden of Tolvan Cross Cottage, which is 800m north of Gweek. From Gweek, the main road bends slightly right, whereas the road for the Tolvan is straight on as you get to the Spar / Post Office. The current owners are a lovely young couple, and although they obviously retain the right for people to view at their discretion, they are very flexible and don't mind people turning up unannounced. Or you can, as I did, give some prior warning in case they are out, away etc. They get about 5-6 people a year at the moment, and unless those number rise dramatically they don't see it as a problem at all. The stone is all I expected. Big and enigmatic. One thing that I hadn't noticed on pics was a small circular hole on the left hand side. Wonder what that is all about? NB - their 'front door' is at the back, next to the stone. This post appears as part of the weblog entry Kernow again - Part 2 - Land of the Giants
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Posted by pure joy7th October 2003ce Edited 7th October 2003ce |
| Don't be afraid to knock on the door to see this strange stone, the present owner of the house and guardian of the stone is only too willing to show it and tell you about it. You can only see it from the garden which is behind the cottage. |
Posted by hamish1st June 2003ce Edited 2nd June 2003ce |
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This stone is a Triangular 2.29 slab with a 4.44 m diameter hole placed 0.71 m from the ground. The weirdest stone you will find in Cornwall! It The stone is behind a cottage on a lane going due north from Gweek to Penryn. It happens to be in someone's back garden so permission is needed to veiw |
Posted by phil 6th December 2001ce |
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"As far as I know there is only one other stone beside the Men-an-Tol through which one squeezes as a specific, this being the Tolven stone at the back of a farm in the Helford River area, sited on a ridgeway which is crossed by an ancient track to Helston. Here the result being insured being fertility, I feel certain that the prerequisite of nudity also applies. It is a rock pierced by a round hole through which one can just wriggle, the whole performance being plainly a birth symbol." Ithell Colquhoun - :The Living Stones of Cornwall" (1952) |
Posted by chris s7th December 2007ce |
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Just to add to Phil's post, I read that babies should be passed through the hole nine times going back and forth alternately, finishing on the side with the mound, and should be laid down with a sixpence under their head (Grinsell's 1862 source in folklore of prehistoric sites in Britain - possibly Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, 1880 (Bottrell)). I don't know much about babies but I can't imagine being passed through a stone nine times would be very conducive to napping, but maybe its special powers soothed them rather than making them dizzy. |
Posted by Rhiannon15th May 2003ce Edited 15th December 2006ce |
| Said to ensure fertility, particularly to newly married couples, but only after they have squeezed their naked bodies through the hole. |
Posted by pure joy 12th February 2003ce |
| In 1885 it was recorded in living memory that this stone was used for curing infirm children by passing them through the hole. |
Posted by phil 6th December 2001ce |
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"An interesting idea but strange that nothing else like it exists elsewhere." Quoted by Pure Joy. I you thought might be interested in this: The Long Stone, Parish of Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire Folklore has attributed similar healing properties to the Long Stone in the Parish of Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire. Known locally as the "holey stone", this slab of oolitic limestone stands nearly 8 feet high with a thickness of about 18 inches. Believed to be the last surviving fragment of a long barrow chamber, the stone has two holes in it through the larger of which mothers would pass their children to cure them of whooping cough or rickets. Folklore also tells that the Long Stone runs around the field it is in when it hears the town clock in nearby Minchinhampton strike midnight. |
Posted by satmansmissus 27th August 2006ce Edited 28th August 2006ce |
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JT Blight in a journal for the Royal Institute of Cornwall (1862) stated the Tolven was "formerly a conspicuous object by the way-side. In the past 12 or 14 years a house has been built betwixt it and the road. It now forms part of a garden hedge" He also wrote of a low barrow about 20 yards in diameter ina field adjoining the stone 18 yards across the road. Beside this was a kist which Blight refered to as a cradle used to place children in after they had been passed through the Tolven. Another reference to the Tolven is found in "The Cornishman" newspaper in 1879. Here it is stated that the stone originally lay on nearby Fean Downs but was considered unsafe. A Mr Moyles, whilst building a new house in 1847 had the stone moved to help form a hedge to his new property. Ignoring those that said it was bad luck to move the stone Mr Moyles then proceded to knock off portions of the top and bottom of the stone. This information was gained from an article in the 2001 Old Cornwall Society magazine by Michael Tangye. |
Posted by Mr Hamhead26th April 2004ce Edited 26th April 2004ce |
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This is what Craig Weatherhill says in his book ‘Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall’ (Cornwall Books, 1985, revised 1997 & 2000): “In the back garden of Tolvan Cross Cottage, on a minor road 1mile due North of Gweek. Permission to view must be sought. A large upright slab, triangular in shape, 2.3m tall and 2.2m wide at the base. The centre of the stone is pierced by a circular hole 44cms in diameter, the purpose of which is unknown. It is probably Bronze Age.” Homer Sykes in ‘Mysterious Britain’ (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993) says that it is unknown how far into the ground it stands, and that the hole is bevelled. He says that some suggest the Tolvan was used to block a now lost ancient burial chamber, and suggests that the hole allowed a way in for funeral purposes and a passage out for the spirits of the dead. An interesting idea but strange that nothing else like it exists elsewhere. |
Posted by pure joy 12th February 2003ce |
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Healing stonesThe Tolvan Stone, Constantine, Cornwall (engraving, 1870) The Long Stone, Parish of Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire (and at right a drawing from 1913 |
Posted by phil 8th December 2001ce |
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